KUALA LUMPUR, 2 April 2009: The Ministry of Tourism has decided to close down all state Tourism Action Council offices and instead set up a central department for Tourism Action.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said a Department for Tourism Action at the federal level would be set up to handle such duties because state Tourism Action Councils had not been able to provide quality taxi and hotel services.

“If we want Malaysia to remain a destination of choice for tourists from all around the world, we need to have quality services in all areas,” she said after handing out Excellent Service Awards to 103 staff of the Tourism Ministry and Tourism Malaysia here today.

Azalina said the proposal was accepted by the cabinet and the process of setting up the department would start in June.

“With the setting up of the department, we will ensure that the ministry’s representatives are stationed at the grassroots level to ensure quality services,” she said.

Azalina said issues of environment must also be given importance as it is a vital product in promoting tourism.

“In our advertisements, we portray blue seas and green forest, but when tourists arrive here, they see that our seas are polluted with oil spills or forest cleared.

“In order to attract tourists, we must not show something that looks good in the advertisement and not in reality,” she said. — Bernama